Iranian nuke assassination prompts cyber threat

Trent Nouveau, 11th January 2012

Iranian Prof. Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, deputy director of the first uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, was killed today by a sticky bomb planted on his car by two motorcyclists.

According to DebkaFile, Ahmadi-Roshan was the fourth Iranian nuclear scientist to be mysteriously assassinated in Tehran during the past two years.

Unsurprisingly, Iran is blaming Israel and the United States for the assassinations, accusing both countries of waging a clandestine war of attrition by sabotaging equipment and eliminating key personnel.

The United States, however, has denied any role in the above-mentioned incident.

"We believe that there has to be an understanding between Iran, its neighbors and the international community that finds a way forward for it to end its provocative behavior, end its search for nuclear weapons, and rejoin the international community."

Clinton also warned Iran against blockading the strategic Strait of Hormuz in an effort to deprive the West of oil.

"The provocative rhetoric coming out of Iran in the last week has been quite concerning. It has caused us and many of our partners in the region and around the world to reach out to the Iranians to impress upon them the provocative and dangerous nature of the threats to close the Straits of Hormuz.

"This is an international waterway. The United States and others are committed to keeping it open. It is part of the lifeline that keeps oil and gas moving around the world. It's also important to speak as clearly as we can to the Iranians about the dangers of this kind of provocation."

Meanwhile, the hacker known as Sabu reacted to the latest Iranian assassination by kicking off a campaign to attack Israeli government websites in retaliation for the country's alleged role in the incident.

"Since #israel started the week by blowing up Iranian nuclear scientists - how about we focus on disrupting their infrastructure?

"Hackers across the globe: The Israeli government abuses the sovereignty of Iran and has waged war on its scholars .gov.il ownage starts..NOW."

Sabu also posted a short list of puported Israeli SCADA systems and e-mail addresses to PasteBin.

"Find their systems," he instructed. "[And] login using default logins."